1. Technical Field:
The present invention relates to improvements in educational word games and, more particularly, is an improvement of the game disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,513.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art:
The game that is the subject of my aforesaid patent provides plural player cards (i.e., one per player), each having ten different pairs of words. On one side of the player card each pair of words is positioned on a respective line, and each line is provided with a point score appearing between the paired words which have the same meaning in two different languages (e.g., English and Spanish). A stack of word cards includes one card for each word appearing on the player cards, the paired words of the player cards appearing on opposite sides of respective word cards. The game is played one line at a time on each player card by sequentially turning over word cards from the stack. As a word card is turned, each player selects one letter from the exposed word and blacks out that letter each time it appears in both of the paired words of the line being played on his/her player card. The blacking out step is effected with a grease pencil employed to mark out a portion of a transparent acetate sheet covering the player card. If all of the word cards in the stack are turned over before play is completed, the stack is itself turned over and shuffled so that all of the words on the opposite sides of the word cards may be sequentially exposed. The first player to black out all of the letters in one of the paired words on the currently played line may elect to terminate play of the current line and receive the point score appearing on that line. Alternatively, that player may elect to continue playing the line with the intention of blacking out all letters in both of the paired words in order to achieve a point total corresponding to quadruple the indicated point score for the line being played. In doing so, however, the player risks forfeiting all points for the current line if an adversary blacks out one or both words on the adversary's current line before the first player covers both of his/her words. After one player scores for the current line, the word cards are shuffled and the players proceed to the next line on their respective player cards until all of the lines on the first side of the player cards have been played. The player cards are then turned over to their reverse sides on which the same words appear but are not properly paired on common lines; e.g., the Spanish translation of an English word does not appear on the same line as the English word having the same meaning. Play continues as described for the first side of the player cards; however, a "played line" on the reverse side must include properly paired translations. If, for example, a player fills in all of the letters of an English word but has unknowingly been playing the wrong Spanish word, that player, upon electing to take the point score, is penalized that point score amount. In this regard, before a player can win a line, that player must cover one word plus at least one letter of the properly paired translation word. Of course, the players can elect to seek quadruple line point score by covering all of the letters in two properly paired translation words. After all lines are played on both sides of the player cards, the player with the highest accumulated point score is declared the winner.
The game of my prior patent, as described above, is both interesting to play and educational for its players. However, there are certain features of the game which are in need of improvement. For example, the assignment of point scores to each line is somewhat arbitrary in that no strict formula is applied. For example, the point score is selected by generally considering the number of letters in the paired words and the relative difficulty of the translation from English to Spanish in each pair of words. As a consequence, even though the same number of points may be assigned to each player card, certain player cards tend to be easier than others, thereby giving a distinct advantage to the players of the easier cards. Moreover, the assignment of a point score to a pair of words, while permitting a line to be won by blacking out just one of the words, fails to consider the relative difficulty of covering each of the words in the pair.
I have also found that my prior game may be adapted to have broader educational value than merely serving as a foreign language learning tool.
Finally, I have found an improved and inexpensive technique for covering letters in words during playing of the game such that inadvertent marking of clothing and furniture with a grease pencil, particularly by young children, is avoided.